Thursday, May 5, 2016

In Europe, BDS is largely state-sponsored

Benjamin Weinthal, a European correspondent with Jerusalem Post, also
served on the panel after holding a Q&A session with students at
Maryland Hillel that afternoon.

Weinthal's 16 years reporting with the Jerusalem Times in Berlin gave
him a first hand experience with one of the major themes of the panel —
the difference between anti-Semitism in Europe and in the United States,
he said. The two countries have different takes on the BDS ideology, a
movement referring to the boycott, divestment and sanction of Israel,
and these differences contrast the two regions.

"Nearly half the states in the [United States] have proposed or passed
anti-BDS resolutions or laws," Weinthal said. "In Europe, BDS is largely
state-sponsored … it would be the equivalent of the state of Maryland's
legislature to hold a BDS panel on why it's important to boycott
Israel."